Lutherans and Church-Schools

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 24, 1913

Lutherans and Church-Schools

THE following letter to the editor of the Record-Herald of Chicago shows how other denominations as well as ourselves sense the need of Christian education for the children and youth in these days of peril “when juvenile crime is increasing, when there is no end of murder and vice and graft.”—

“Allow me to quote the Record-Herald of Dec. 3, 1908, reporting President Stanley Hall’s lecture on the ‘Defects of American Education.’ Dr. Hall, according to the Record-Herald, is ‘one of the most eminent of American authorities on psychology, and particularly on child psychology.’ He says: ‘There is no moral education in the schools. Surely this is a matter for thought when juvenile crime is increasing, when there is no end of murder and vice and graft.’ The Record-Herald of Dec. 5, 1908, adds editorially: ‘It is true that our educational system fails from the standpoint of moral training, or character building.’”

“Dr. Eliot says: ‘The only way to cure lawlessness in our country is to set aside the first half-hour of every day all the years the child is in school for instruction in the one thing that saves both boys and nations—downright, common morality.’”

“We Lutherans believe we have solved the problem, and we do more than Dr. Eliot demands. The first full hour the child receives a thorough instruction by competent male teachers in Christian religion. This is continued in our secondary schools and business colleges.

“I would suggest that all religious denominations be encouraged in every possible manner to open parochial schools for the children of their respective denominations. Public schools would then be necessary only for those children whose parents do not realize the importance of daily moral training. As to state supervision of such parochial schools, I have nothing to say at this time. Our Lutheran schools are always open to the public. Our results, we believe, are very gratifying, and our country surely is the gainer; yet we are constantly aiming at improving our system. It is with this object in view that Lutherans are now erecting a splendid teachers’ college on a forty-acre tract in River Forest, acquired by the Lutheran Education Society of Chicago.”

“Let Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and other denominations be encouraged to take the training of their children in hand. This would do more for saving our children and our nation than all other measures heretofore advocated.” H. R. S.